I’m a journalist writing a travel memoir about backpacking solo through Africa. I fund my pursuits by helping small businesses, organizations and individuals use social media.

I left my reporting job with the Houston Chronicle in May 2008 to backpack through West Africa, Cameroon and Madagascar, freelancing for various publications along the way. Through my travel blog, Inkslinging in Africa, I brought readers along for the ride as I voyaged by boat to Timbuktu, to Cameroon to deliver a gift to a grieving polygamous family and to Madagascar to discover the howling Indri lemur. That blog is now serving as the skeleton of my book.

My travels don’t end with Africa; I’ve also bungee-jumped in New Zealand, road-tripped through Ireland and fondue-dipped in Paris. What’s next? South America. Or maybe Southeast Asia. Or Tasmania…

During my three years with the Houston Chronicle, I covered politics out of the paper’s Washington bureau, then transitioned to the Houston newsroom to report on city hall. Later, as a health reporter, I followed a young couple as they tried to save their unborn twins from a rare disease and chronicled a sick teenage boy’s wait for a donor kidney. (Read some of my newspaper clips here.)

Want to contact me? The best way to get in touch is via e-mail: alexiskgrant@gmail.com.

You can also find me on:

Look forward to connecting with you!

A few stories on travel and writing that I’ve written for other publications:

In Modern Cameroon polygamy doesn’t pay. A news story for The Christian Science Monitor about the decline of polygamy. It features the Cameroonian family who plays a major role in my travel memoir. (Nov. 2008)

In Africa, the discussion is of Obama. An Op-Ed for the Albany Times Union about traveling in Africa when Obama’s running for president. Africans want him to win, but they doubt he will. Another topic I explore in my memoir. (Oct. 2008)

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9 Responses

I´m looking for an agent too. I had one once (Jodie Rhodes). She was crabby but worked hard to sell a much earlier version of my memoir about meeting a poor Mexican teenager in San MIguel de Allende and never going back to my life.

Thanks for sharing your story about Alexis the journalist who is globe trotting, job hunting and writing about it.
As a Kenyan born journalist with a multicultural background, I appreciate the journey you are taking to distant lands and sharing your stories about life in other parts of the world. It really makes you appreciate all that we have when others have so little to survive on. Just take a trip to poverty stricken rural communities in Kenya and other countries.Your jaw will drop. Education, clean drinking water and food are luxuries for many of these people. Give a poor African child a soccer ball and you’ve given him or her the world. The ear to ear smile is priceless.
So when the job hunt gets tiresome, discouraging and I feel my world caving in, I do a quick reality check and realize, that I am thumbs up, o.k.
Your blog is inspiring and an excellent example of the changing job hunting landscape. Lots of great take away information to explore and ponder over. Isn’t that what we as journalists strive for: To help touch someone’s life and trigger change.

Cool story and great school! Why did you decide to travel the world after your Master’s degree though? Isn’t it kinda expensive? Why not travel before, and then get your master’s, and then work to leverage your degree? Just curious!

Oh, also wondering, did you have parents to pay for your grad school at Northwestern? I’m tying together themes at Yakezie.com, which will launch on August 15th, and there are three verticals, Yakezie Personal Finance, Yakezie Lifestyle (your bucket), and Yakezie Scholarship (giving back).

Given I’m a PF writer, I talk a lot about financial decisions. So, if your parents paid the tuition at Northwestern, it would be rational and easier for you to give up journalism to travel the world b/c of zero or less debt?

Hm. I don’t feel totally comfortable answering this question, but I’m a believer of transparency and I know money is a big factor in deciding whether you can travel… so here goes. Yes, my parents helped me with grad school, so I didn’t have a lot of debt to worry about when I left my job. BUT I also worked hard to save $25,000 while working in Houston so I could afford to take the trip. I figured $15K for the trip and expenses surrounding the trip (vaccines, health insurance, it all adds up). Then $10K to keep me afloat when I got back until I found a job.